Get Started Guide

The following information will help you get started with the implementation of your Recreation Management website. 

 

Important Notes

• The on-time submission of deliverables is critical to implementation success and meeting timeline expectations. Missing deliverable deadlines will affect a seamless implementation process.
• Selection of a Payment Gateway Provider prior to implementation is expected as part of the sales process. Completing the contractual process with your Payment Gateway Provider, credential gathering, setup, and testing takes a significant amount of time and therefore, is a critical first step in the implementation process in order to be successful. Not having a payment gateway selected prior to implementation or changing your payment gateway provider once in implementation will affect a seamless and timely implementation.
• Customers are required to extract, format, and submit all imports (if purchased) based on Recreation Management Import Template rules. Rec then performs a quality assessment and imports the data. Any errors due to formatting will cause the import to not be successful and the customer is expected to correct any formatting/data quality errors as the owner of their data.

 

 

Establish Your Project Team

Organize your team, define roles, and assign responsibilities.

 

Project Leader

An individual should be selected from your organization to serve as the Project Leader for each CivicPlus product. This person may be the single individual working on the project or serve as the leader of a project team.

 

The Project Leader will:

• Receive, filter, and distribute project communication to team members/stakeholders
• Work closely with their Rec Project Manager and Implementation Consultant to facilitate the execution of the project and logistics.
• Organize training for recreation staff, front desk, supervisors, and managers to ensure the availability of necessary attendees
• Provide focus and guidance throughout the process to keep the project moving
• Helps to prioritize key objectives, assists with issue escalation, and acts as project champion

 

Project Team

The Project Leader should assemble a project team to distribute the project workload and/or facilitate consensus regarding decisions made during the implementation process. Your project team should include managers/staff members who are close enough to the day-to-day operations to understand the context of the training and be able to make decisions about system setup and potential policy changes. They should also be able to dictate actions to internal staff to perform project tasks, hold them accountable to those tasks, and the ability to run processes/decisions up the chain for approval.

 

You should consider the following roles for a successful project team:

• Lead Staff: Activity managers and facility managers within parks and recreation who will be doing the primary configuration and setup within the Rec system.
• Frontline Staff: Acts as end users of the system and will participate in end-user training sessions.
• Information Technology: Coordinates with Rec on technical aspects of the system and transfer of data.
• Finance: Coordinates the payment gateway integration and works with Rec to properly configure the necessary accounting setup.
• Marketing: Identifies and communicates the rollout and adoption process both internally and to the public.

 

Tips from our most successful teams:

• Limit membership: Be thoughtful and selective of members to create an effective team for the creative process to run smoothly.
• Include decision-makers: Individuals with approval/veto over system setup and business practices/policies should be involved to understand decisions made.
• Outline internal processes: Establish how you will distribute information, gather feedback, and test system setups.
• Work cohesively: Decisions should be made as a team and communicated to CivicPlus as one voice through the Project Leader. Conflicting opinions make it difficult to determine the desired outcome.

 

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Determine an Internal Launch Plan

A successful launch is not necessarily the fastest launch. The Rec implementation requires significant work from your staff members to prepare for launch. Thoroughly discussing and planning the timing of your launch with your project team will set the stage for a successful launch. Your team should define what a successful launch means to your organization and create user acceptance testing scenarios for your staff to run through prior to launch.

 

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Prepare for System Training

Collect and Analyze Current Policies

To prepare for system training, your staff should collect current business practices and policies. Your project team should review the current business practices and policies as the system is set up to ensure that the practice/policy continues to make sense. The following list of items should be collected prior to your first training session and provided to applicable project team members. These items are not required to be submitted to your Rec contacts but will serve as helpful resources during implementation.

• Copy of your General Liability Waiver
• Copy of any form currently being used (for example, Parks/Facility Rules and Regulations, Hold Harmless Agreements, or Consent Agreements)
• Copy of any or all public policies (such as refund, cancellation, privacy, or photo policies)
• List of all known “prompt” questions or questions you may ask at the point of registration or facility booking
• List or Brochure with fees/charges (like to set up add-ons and discounts)
• List of General Ledger Accounting numbers and the descriptions/titles of each (to set up financial settings)
• Information on any Scholarship programs
• Brochure/publications with all rentals, membership, and program information
• Brochure/publications with all rental fees, facility descriptions, file with digital photos, and any miscellaneous information
• List questions you wish to ask when making a reservation
• What facilities, if any, will be available to a patron online, and what will not
• Brochure/publications with all program information including descriptions and fees
• List of any special user groups or organizations that receive discounts or special permissions for the use and scheduling of parks or facilities
• List of all point of sale locations, such as the front desk pool, or front desk office
• List of all point-of-sale items with fees and associated GL codes
• List of current hardware used at workstations

 

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In-Article Glossary

• GL: General Ledger
• Rec: CivicPlus' Recreation Management software

 

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